Christian Integrity

“christian integriy is the wholeness of character demonstrated by alignment of actions, words and internal principles based on the word of God. it is aligning our thoughts, motivations, attitudes and actions with the ethical principles found in God’s word. in both our personal lives and our ministry, what we believe, what we say and what we do should be consistent, congruent, reliable and transparent.” – compassion integrity statement

here at compassion, there are 12 leadership principles that we have to live by: demonstrate godly character, cherish family, commit to a local church, live with integrity, exemplify servant leadership, humbly listen, lead with courage, ignite passion for ministry, master communications, equip staff, strive for excellence and practice personal disciplines. whew, that’s a lot, eh?

well, in my department, we have a campaign to promote praise & recognition and spiritual discipline among co-workers. each month, we pick a theme that’s related to these principles. this month, it’s “living with integrity.”

integrity is such an abstract word for me to grasp. in the past, i used to think of finance when integrity was mentioned. but since i’ve been with compassion, my view has slowly changed. i’m now seeing integrity taking territory in every area of my life.

there are many scriptures that are integrity-related:

“i know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity.” 1 chronicles 29:17

“the integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.” proverbs 11:3

“the man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.” proverbs 10:9

“but just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘be holy, because I am holy.” 1 peter 1:15-16

it’s a difficult matter. my life is to be trustworthy, transparent and totally submitted to the ways of the Lord.

but what if, just what if, one day a restaurant owner, where i took a tour group to have dinner, gave me a blank receipt with his signature on it (it’s a custom in tourist business in thailand to give blank receipts to the tour guide to fill the number up by themselves), what should be my reaction? no one will know. i will have some extra pocket money. just a scribble. nothing’s wrong about it.

too many people in the world say too much, “just a little…”. just a little peek, no one will see. just a little cheating and i will get better grades.

this “just a little” has caused disastrous ruin in this world. like adam and eve, “just a little crunch to satisfy our curiosity.” what’s the result of that? human separated from the Creator…for eternity.

today we watched a video from the simpletruths.com on the difference of a degree. it says that 211F makes water hot but 212F makes water boil. from the boiling water comes steam. steam causes a locomotive to move. just 1 degree, there’s a huge difference.

so let’s try practicing our integrity, shall we? see how it’s gonna make a difference in our life?